Wednesday, September 29, 2010

BONDED BY BLOOD have announced that MAURO GONZALES from MUTANTS OF WAR will front the band on all 2010 North American tour dates following the departure of JOSE BARRALES, who has left the band to pursue a new career path. The band has given a brief statement on the situation:

"After 5 long years of hard work and dedication our vocalist and friend Jose Barrales has decided to part ways with the band due to personal and financial reasons. We all wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors! We have, however, moved forward and found a great replacement for the upcoming tours. He is a friend, fan and a great singer named Mauro Gonzalez from local band Mutants of War. We have been rehearsing with Mauro non-stop for the upcoming 2010 calendar and can't wait to hit the road! Refreshed and recharged Bonded By Blood is ready to crush your face in like never before! Be sure to catch us all at our upcoming tour dates with Early Man/Evile and Overkill/Forbidden/Gama Bomb!" BONDED BY BLOOD's North American tour - which starts tomorrow, September 30th in Tulsa, Oklahoma - will go ahead as planned with the newly recruited frontman.

Departing singer JOSE BARRALES comments:

"Since BBB is leaving on tour today, I've decided to let you all know that I have left the band. It was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in a very long time and it crushes me to do so, but I just couldn't continue any longer.

"For the past two to three years, I have been struggling with financial, personal, band and family problems that seemed to get even more chaotic as time went by. I don't really want to go into detail on my personal reason on why I left the band; what I really want to say in this announcement is thank you - thank you to all the bands, fans and friends that helped me out on the road, thank you for believing in me and BBB, thank you for all the support.

"As for BBB, they will continue without me. For the past couple of weeks they have been rehearsing with a good friend of ours, Mauro Gonzales, from the band Mutants Of War. I only hope you guys treat him with the same respect you treated me.

"As for me, I will be around. I will never leave the music world, but for now, I need to fix some problems of my own. I hope you respect my decision and hope one day I can be on stage once again. One last thank you to everyone at Earache: Dig, Dan, Ali, Talita, Al, Summer, Rich and Ant. Ruben, Jerry, Juan and Alex: you guys will never be forgotten, best five years ever. Give them hell, fuckers!"

Earache Records is proud to announce the signing of North Carolina's HOUR OF 13 to a worldwide recording deal.

HOUR OF 13 have built up a formidable reputation in underground circles for their potent brand of occult-inspired doom-laden metal. The band recently performed their debut show at the 'Dublin Doom Day' Festival in Ireland, to rapturous response.

Their debut US show takes place in New York on October 16.

Guitarist and founder CHAD DAVIS commented on the deal:

"We, Hour Of 13, are proud to have become part of the Earache Records legacy. The support the label has shown to a host of influential bands over the years has been essential to the growth of real, original music, and we could not be more pleased to have become one of those bands. This is a monumental step for Hour Of 13, and we're glad to have Earache on our side."

Earache will re-release the band's last album, 'THE RITUALIST', in early 2011, which will be supported by further live appearances throughout the year.

Irish thrashers GAMA BOMB have just wrapped up their "Graveyard Disturbance" headlining European tour, and are now gearing up for their first ever North American tour.

The band will be kicking off the massive North American trek on October 22nd and will be teaming up with the likes of OVERKILL, FORBIDDEN, EVILE, BONDED BY BLOOD and DRI.

GAMA BOMB frontman PHILLY BYRNE looks ahead to their first American tour:

"Touring in America is one of those things that every band, every musician or bedroom rockstar dreams about. Even bands from America don't get to tour America. We're lucky enough to get the chance and are really excited about it. If any tour we've ever undertaken can be described as a great adventure, this is it. It's going to be hard, but we're hard men. It's going to be girthy, but so are we. We'll wear the appropriate hats and drink the right liquors. You get the picture.

"We've toured with Overkill before and really look up to Blitz and the guys as friends and mentors, so it's going to be great to spend more time with them gigging, drinking and talking. The Overkill guys embody that American idea of 'shooting the shit' when they're backstage, so we're looking forward to shooting some shits with them. Forbidden we've never met, but are looking forward to hearing them do some of their classics and getting to know them.

"Evile and Bonded By Blood are, of course, good friends of ours. We've already been to some weird and wonderful places with those guys, and this is going to be the biggest adventure we've all had yet. Everyone will be sick of us within about an hour of the tour bus rolling out, but that goes with the territory I suppose. We're looking forward to seeing America, meeting cool people and sampling the many local moonshines the country has to offer. I head most of them won't even render you blind, which is great. Also, we will do good gigs while we are out there."

As Singapore's underground grind sensations, WORMROT have been steadily touring North America for the first time, they've been blogging about their experiences for the seminal extreme music resource, Invisible Oranges. On their 2nd exclusive piece for the site, WORMROT talks about eating pizza every day, their love for Wal-Mart and Denny's as well as their first encounter with a Texas-sized flood:

"The next morning, we left the place at around 8:30am. Had our usual snappy Starbucks coffee with breakfast from Arby's and head off to Oklahoma City for a gig at The Conservatory. Another long ass drive! What was supposed to be a 10 hours drive became 12 hours due to some complications on the highway in Amarillo, Texas. For the 1st time in our lives, we experienced real flood!!! The flood was so bad that some cars were covered in water. That totally sucks big time, man! We were damn lucky not to get stuck in the flood coz all the Wormrot boys can't swim, for goodness sake!! Traffic was slow coz they had to block some parts of the road. And so we arrived late while the 1st band was playing. No bullshit, just load in and fucking play! Another small turnout for us considering the size of the place. LOL… But it was a fun gig. Sound system was good and the crowd was crazy, too. There was no place for us to sleep that night. so Mike h ad to drive to a hotel so that we can all have our beauty sleep. Oh yeah, the promoter did get us some food though. Pizzas."

Monday, September 27, 2010

OCEANOvocalist,Adam Warrenlent his formidable talents to Utah'sCHELSEA GRINduring their recent Canadian tour. Warren stepped in forCHELSEA GRINvocalistAlex Koehler, who was recovering from a jaw fracture. Just after coming back home,Adamgave a statement that describes his excitement over his stint fronting forCHELSEA GRINand beyond:"The Grin tour went awesome. It was really fun to get to experience all the Canada has to offer. Even IF it involves paying bigger prices. Everyone (Blind Witness,Chelsea grin, Attila) were all cool and it was just like picking up on a tour that I had already started. It was a good way FOR ME at least to establish some good friendships with CG and Attila as well considering Oceano will be hitting the road with them very soon. So I'm sure there will more partying to ensue when that rolls around."Produced byZeuss(MUNICIPAL WASTE, THE ACACIA STRAIN, HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL), the new album, CONTAGIONspreads in North AmericaNovember 9th. Take one look at the track list and fans will get a brief taste of the destructive tale to be unfolded within:01. Precursor To Enslavement 02. Viral Re-Animation 03. Regulated Disposal Of Life 04. Quarantine 05. The Contaminated 06. Exist In Confinement 07. Persuasive Oppression 08. Weaponized 09. Sadistic Experiments 10. Remnants Aflame 11. Ending IntellectOCEANOis giving fans the chance to win aniPad. That's right! A brand-spanking-newiPadis up for grabs. All fans must do is go tohttp://earache.com/uswebstore/index.php/cPath/667_672_698and pre-orderCONTAGION. Pre-order the album on its own, with a hoodie, a shirt or any other configuration that can be conceived. As long as the pre-order is made through theEARACHE US WEBSTORE, fans will automatically be entered into a drawing to win.View the contest flyer here:http://earacherecords.com/myspace/ipad.jpgWhile making theirCONTAGIONpre-orders, fans can listen to the BRAND NEW track,"Precursor To Enslavement,"now available onOCEANO's officialMySpacepage:http://myspace.com/oceanoCatchOCEANOlive on the run-up to the release ofCONTAGION, as they head out on"The Corruptour" withWHITECHAPEL, IMPENDING DOOM, MISS MAY IandI DECLARE WAR:Oct 01 - Macon, GA - The 567Oct 02 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Culture RoomOct 03 - St. Petersburg, FL - State TheaterOct 04 - Jacksonville, FL - RainOct 05 - Spartanburg, SC - Ground ZeroOct 06 - Charlotte, NC - Tremont Music HallOct 07 - Raleigh, NC - Volume 11 TavernOct 08 - Norfolk, VA - NorvaOct 09 - Jermyn, PA - Eleanor Rigby'sOct 10 - Hartford, CT - Webster TheaterOct 12 - Boston, MA - Harper's FerryOct 13 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance TheaterOct 14 - Syracuse, NY - Lost HorizonOct 15 - Toledo, OH - Headliner'sOct 16 - Grand Rapids, MI - IntersectionOct 17 - Elgin, IL - Mad MaggiesOct 19 - Milwaukee, WI - The RaveOct 20 - St. Louis, MO - Pop'sOct 21 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music HallOct 22 - Nashville, TN - RocketownOct 23 - Birmingham, AL - ZydecoView theCorruptourflyer athttp://earacherecords.com/myspace/corruptour.jpgFor moreOCEANOnews and info, head tohttp://www.myspace.com/oceanoor join the band onFacebookathttp://www.facebook.com/OceanoMetalFor press opportunities and further information, please contact: Anthony Guzzardo North American Press Manager Earache Records 4402 11th st. Suite 507a Long Island City, NY 11101 Phone - 718-786-1707 Fax - 718-786-1756 AIM/MSN: ForsakenChaos37www.earache.comusapr@earache.comhttp://www.myspace.com/earacherecords Photos, Art and Logos available at:http://www.earache.com/media